Target - The Friendly Invasion of Canada

 

 

 Seventeen more target  stores have just opened across Ontario. By the end of the year the total will be 124. Do we feel invaded?? Not really, the more retail competitiion, the better the prices. And the target stores  will be selling Canadian made products like Roots along with their own brands of merchandise. Canadians are regarding the American 'invasion' with a sense of fun and adventure. Don't forget we've had Lowes home improvement stores popping up for the last couple of years and we have appreciated the wider range of products available to us.

It’s been just two weeks since three pilot stores opened in Guelph, Fergus and Milton – and the response has been good. In fact, John Morioka, senior vice-president of merchandising, says it’s been “almost too good.”

Shoppers have been complaining about lack of inventory and heightened demand at the pilot stores, but Morioka says it’s all part of the process.

“We were definitely slammed,” he said Monday on a media tour of the new Target at East York Town Centre in Toronto – the GTA’s first location.

“We thought that there would be an initial sort of bump, but the bump has not leveled off to the degree that we thought. “That has probably been the most surprising part of it — that we haven’t been able to recover [in those three stores] because we are always surprised by the demand.”

According to the Toronto Sun, people were lining up waiting for the store to open outside the East York Town Centre store this morning.

Morioka says Target officials have pulled the “best of the best” from traditional stores as well as added some unique elements to the Canadian locations. The stores feature a number of Canadian collaborations.

Four more stores will open next week, and most locations are expected to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The majority of stores will also feature a Starbucks and in-store pharmacy designed to “provide guests with superior patient-centered healthcare.”

There is a Target opening near my daughter in Cambridge soon  and she is excited. She is the uber bargain finding champ of the family. Just cut her loose at a major sale and watch her eyes start to spin as she kick starts her 'Reduced for Final Sale' motor.

You are very welcome Target. Now show us what you've got.